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Monthly Archives: October 2012

As marketers, we’ve been told people will buy what they WANT – but I’m here to tell you, “continuity income” is something you NEED.

This week, the northeast got hammered by Hurricane Sandy. And my town of New Canaan, CT was no exception.

We are already on the 3rd day with no power – and we expect to be “in the dark” for another week or so. But my family is safe (and we have a generator), so I’m not complaining. We are in a much better position that so many others and I’m thankful.

Since I couldn’t get online for a couple of days, it made me take a long hard look at my business.

I did an inventory of my products and programs and realized that a majority have some type of “recurring revenue” built-in (membership sites, software, etc.)

It gave me a sense of calmness knowing that I didn’t have to “sell” anything during the past couple of days (or even over the next coming weeks) to stay afloat.

Of course, there will always be drop-off in a continuity program (yes, no matter how good your program is, people WILL cancel), so you can never take your eye off bringing new people to your business. But the business won’t collapse without a new sale during the few weeks.

GOT CONTINUITY INCOME?

Just about any business can find some way to fit recurring revenue into their model. Here are 3 simple ideas…

$5 NANO CONTINUITY
Selling in a softer “hobby” topic like gardening or knitting? Try offering a $5/month “Nano Continuity” program that features weekly video tutorials. Heck, you can use your mobile phone to record short 3-10 minute videos, upload them, use clickbank or paypal, put them on a password-protected blog page and you’re done!

PREMIUM COACHING
Are you a life coach? Or do you have specialized knowledge? Create your own premium priced online coaching program. Run live coaching groups through a webinar service like gottowebinar, use a wordpress plugin like Wishlist, and charge anywhere from $20 – $200+ per month depending on the market and positioning. Just 50 clients at $50/month is $2,500 per month!

MEMBERSHIP SITE
Perhaps your market always has new information coming out (stocks, social media, etc.). Or, maybe it would make for a sticky community (golf, fan clubs, weight loss, etc.). You can build a membership site. If you want a full-featured membership site, go with something like Wishlist or MemberGate.

But always remember, don’t just throw together crappy content because YOU need a continuity program. Be smart and strategic about it.

Instead of thinking, “what’s the least amount I can do to charge $20/month”.. INSTEAD think, “how can I deliver $500 of value for just $20/month”.

It’s why FounderFly is kicking butt and it’s why the people who take my advice are building rock-solid businesses.

Are you ready for the challenge?

QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?
ADD YOUR FEEDBACK BELOW

P.S. If you want the most complete membership site training program to date for just $1, check this out.

Last week, hundreds of the most caring “online” entrepreneurs from all over the world gathered together for a few days in Stamford, CT for DotComXpo.

There was a mix of attendees. People who were just starting out and working on their first product on one end of the spectrum – and mega-successful on the other side.

But one thing they all had in common.. they all have a strong desire to change the world (and yes, make money while doing it to).

THE CHALLENGE

During one of my sessions (where I laid out the exact blueprint on how to go from zero to over $500,000), I talked for a bit about blogging… and one way to come up with a powerful traffic magnet is creating an infographic.

After teaching other people how to copy my success and build a lifestyle (and profitable) business, I KNOW that a tiny percentage of people take action.

And it’s NOT the Pareto Principle of 80/20 (where 20% of the people will take action). In the game of entrepreneurship, I call it Lee’s Law of 98/2 (only 2% of people will take action and do what’s necessary to build a rockstar business).

I don’t know why it is just 2%. Granted, my programs tend to get a higher percentage of action takers, but in general, it’s around 2%.

I wish I had the answer – but I just have to live with those numbers and do my part to move that needle over a few percentage points.

So knowing this, I laid down a challenge to everyone in the room.

I told them about the power of an Infographic and gave them exactly 7 days to create one for their site. I said only a couple will actually do it and for those that did, I will even mention it on my site.

Yes, some of the attendees didn’t have a blog to feature an infographic on – so I will give them a “free pass” on this assignment. But let’s see how the rest of the hundreds of attendees did on the challenge.

Oh yeah, we even had superstar marketer, Melanie Duncan (yes, out attendees are all high-calibre too!) come on stage and share a very cool free resource to help you build an inforgraphic called Infogr.am

It’s now a week later and drumroll please…

There were 3 people who created an infographic and published it on their website within the week.

ACTION-TAKING ATTENDEE #2: Zach Swinehart
Zach is a self-described “geek” who focuses on helping people get over their fear of all things “tech”. Here’s his infographic (you can see his post here)

ACTION-TAKING ATTENDEE #3: Gene Hammett
Gene is a business coach and wanted to create a graphic that went into detail about running a web design business. Here’s a link to his post and his infographic is below:

CONGRATULATIONS

I wanted to personally congratulate and highlight Nicole, Zach and Gene for not only attending DCX – but for accepting my challenge.

And no, creating one infographic will not make you rich overnight – BUT it’s a step in the right direction. It’s these small steps you take every day that add up to MASSIVE results.

This past week, I wanted to do something different and take a risk. A calculated risk, but a risk nonetheless.

The goal: To see if it’s possible to run an “Internet marketing” event (called DotComXpo) with no speakers pitching from the stage while still making it affordable for attendees (and profitable for the producer.. which is me!).

There were some challenges…

1. Would high-calibre speakers be willing to come and deliver content without selling from the stage?

2. Could I attract sponsors to offset my production costs?

3. Could I make “the numbers” work?

4. Would this type of event resonate with people enough to have them attend, travel, take time away from their families and pay up to $1,000?

THE RESULTS

There were two ways to measure the success of DCX… The feedback forms and the bank balance.

First, the feedback forms. I’ve been doing live events for over 15 years (starting when I used to work at Blythedale Children’s Hospital) and I have never had feedback be so strong. Not even close.

When asked how you would rate DCX, almost every single person said a 9 or a 10. In fact, there average score was 9.36! There were a four 8s (and one was because there were too many great sessions to choose from during the “tactical labes” and the other was because the hotel wifi was slow), but that was it. Virtually each form had phrases like JoEllen Marks saying “this event was truly LIFE CHANGING” to Ross Bowring saying “these strategies will add tens, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to my client’s bottom lines”.

In the past, I’d always have up to 10% of the people who didn’t love the event, it’s just the nature of the business. You will never please everyone… but this year was different. 100% positive feedback for a crowd in the hundreds is unheard of and I even got teary reading through the forms.

Attendees overwhelmingly praised the speakers, the value of their sessions, the positive energy of the crowd and the no-pitch environment.

Next, I looked the numbers… because numbers never lie. When taking into account the sponsors, registration fees and bookstore sales, it was a 6-figure weekend after expenses.

Now, to be honest, DCX brought in about 30% less up-front income than my other events when I allowed speakers to “pitch”. While the registration was higher for DCX (the other events would be either free or up to $199 to attend), some of the speakers could bring in $100K or more in just one hour from the stage. So the tradeoff was more registration revenue but less total sales volume.

BUT, I know the goodwill achieved will pay off in the long run. Attendees will tell their friends about the event, about the speakers, and about my companies. And the buzz generated should result in selling thousands of copies of the videos (which will likely make up for less revenue made from the actual event).

In fact, here is a FB thread my Seth Larrabee about DCX and he even plugged FounderFly (I didn’t post the entire thread but other people said things like “I’m in!” – so it is making sales).

Would Seth have plugged FounderFly so hard if the event didn’t blow him away? Maybe, but probably not. And he’s just one of hundreds of people who were there… so multiply this by a larger number and you can begin got see the bigger picture. It’s about building a business with legs.

BOTTOM LINE

Since I’ve been putting on events for so long, I have it down to a science. Everything from hotel negotiations to speakers to filling the room at zero cost.

And even though the amount of dollars generated in the SHORT-TERM were about 20-30% lower at DCX because there was no-pitching, I have zero doubts that LONG-TERM it will pay off.

I sincerely hope there are other brave producers who follow my lead. And if we can all raise the bar and work our asses off to truly overdeliver on events – well, things will be just that much better.

Thank you again to my team (Shirley, Adam, Catherine and PAV Video), the speakers and to the attendees for taking a chance with this event. You all stepped-up in so many ways and I am forever grateful.

Hugs.

NAME YOUR PRICE? HOW MUCH IS 30+ HOURS OF STEP-BY-STEP BIZ/MARKETING TRAINING FROM DCX WORTH TO YOU?
TELL ME HOW MUCH YOU WANT TO PAY BELOW… I’M LISTENING AND OPEN…

P.P.S. My next “big” training program I am going to blow you away. I’ll show you EXACTLY how to run your own 5, 6 and even 7-figure live events and workshops. Prepare for the madness, my friend. I’ll show you every trick I’ve learned from putting on high-value and very profitable events for big, fat paydays. Stay tuned…

For years, we’ve been told that you MUST create an information product “funnel”. A funnel that always started with a free or low-cost product and gradually sell them into more expensive, premium products.

Well over the past 12+ years… I’ve tried it all. Literally. I have created hundreds of products (in everything from fitness to business) and I’ve coached thousands from behind the scenes. Free products. DVDs. Ebooks. Membership sites. Certifications. Workshops. Bootcamps. Software. Home study kits. Been there, done that.

But there is a challenge for my fellow information marketers and publishers. Where do you begin? Which products should you create? Should I have a continuity program? Do I really need a big-ticket product?

So I’ve done some soul-searching. And here’s the new model I created that should SIMPLIFY information product creation. I call it Marketing Funnel 2.0. After all, the easier it is for your to grasp – the better chance of success you will have.

Look at the 3 categories above and aim to have at least one product in EACH category. That’s it.

Of course, you can create more than one product in each category. Perhaps 1 in the “Under $99″, 1 big-ticket product and 2 continuity programs. It depends on your niche and your goals.

And don’t feel as if you must start with the “under $99″ category first. I’ve had customers come in at $1K workshops and membership sites for their first purchase.

I hope this helps simplify your marketing. But always remember, no matter what type of product you create, it MUST deliver oustanding, mind-blowing value.. otherwise, your business will not be around for very long.

Now get out there and change the world!

QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?
DO YOU WANT MORE LIKE THIS?

P.S. Here are 30+ programs covering all aspects of the marketing funnel.

Want to know if you are REALLY doing a good job with your business? There’s no need to spend thousands of dollars on fancy surveys. And you no longer have to guess.

Just ask your customers (and ask yourself) this one simple question…

Would you refer your friends to us?

That’s it. Just 7 simple words – but that’s all you need. “Would you refer your friends to us?”. It cuts right to the real heart of your business and there’s nowhere to hide. After all, your customers are your lifeblood. Without them, you got nothin’. Squat. Nada.

If they say MAYBE – you have work to do.

If they say NO – you have work to do.

If you are AFRAID to even send that to your customers fearing what they’d say – you have A LOT work to do on your business and yourself.

If they say YES – keep up the great work.

Now get out there and be honest with yourself and your customers.

Your coach has spoken.

ARE YOU READY TO CREATE TRULY HAPPY CUSTOMERS/CLIENTS?
GO CHANGE THE WORLD!

As hard as I’ve tried, I literally CANNOT stop thinking about new business ideas, hooks, and brands.

It’s been over 12 years – and my addiction has grown worse. So I have 2 options.

1. Build out all of my business ideas, hire hundreds of staff, and then start to hate my life.
2. Continue to come up with great business hooks – and offer them to you for a great deal.

I’m going with #2. And here’s how it will work.

Every so often, I am going to offer a brand I have created for sale. They will cover everything from business to fitness.

And YOU will own the domain name and the logo. It’s all yours.

That’s right – you’ll get the DOMAIN NAME and the LOGO. I’ve already secured the domain name and will even give you some cool ideas. You just plug & play. It’s the same stuff people pay $20K a day for.

Since I don’t know how you will use the domain name, doing a trademark search and securing it is your responsibility. You will simply buy the domain and logo (of course, you can use your own logo or change this one.. you’ll receive multiple formats of the logo)

IMPORTANT: Since I only have one of these domains, it’s purely FIRST COME/FIRST SERVE. I will monitor the page, and the instant the brand is purchased, the “buy now” button will be removed.

When payment is received, the transfer will be initiated (it usually takes a few days to completely transfer over).

BRAND FOR SALE: 5MinuteFitness.com

IDEAS: Perfect for short workouts to sell via DVDs, books, ebooks or even a membership site. And if you are really motived, a great name for a niche training studio! This is a powerful branded name – and it will sell out quickly.

PRICE: Just $995 for the domain and logo.

SORRY – THIS NAME HAS BEEN SOLD. GET ON THE EMAIL LIST AND FB FANPAGE SO YOU DON’T MISS THE NEXT ONE

If you want the name, grab it now by clicking the button above. Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever…

I’d love to have your feedback. If you like this idea – just comment below and I’ll keep them coming. I own close to 1,000 domain names and I’m always coming up with new “hooks”.

Every single day, my superteam of Demetria and Shirley receive an email from someone who wants me to promote their product. And good for the product creators. If you create a product, you SHOULD go out an actually market them.

However, as is the rule in my business, I will never endorse or promote a product I don’t believe in 100%. I don’t care if it’s my “friend” or someone who has “supported” one of my products in the past.

If the product isn’t killer – I won’t promote it. The trust and relationship with my list is too important (and yours should be too).

START WITH YOUR PRODUCT

Instead of slamming people like I used to in the past and telling you the excuses they’d make for creating a poor product (i.e. I put it together fast to capitalize on the hot trend, etc.), I’m going to share a simple bit of advice to help them (and you).

No matter how good your marketing is. Or how much traffic you can buy. Or how effective your sales copy is.

If your product is crap – your business is doomed. Doomed, I say (you can tell I love cheesy horror movies!).

Yes, you may get sales at first. Or maybe sales will continue to go strong for a while, but trust me – a bad product will soon reveal itself in the marketplace.

First come the dreaded REFUNDS. And the educated marketers will try and save as much of the sale as possible, but mark my words, the refunds will come.

I’ve seen refunds up to 50% (and higher) on some products. Remember, in the end it’s not what you make – it’s what you KEEP that matters.

The next wave are the CHARGEBACKS. There are customers who don’t even want to go through proper refund channels and immediately go for a chargeback with the credit card company. This will hurt you too. Get too many, and welcome to the blacklist, my friend.

Stage 3? Word starts to spread about how terrible your product is. Discussion forums. Youtube reviews. Facebook. The more you sell of a poorly created product, the more word spreads. Call it a victim of your “success”.

Sure, you can try to save your business by continuing to hammer your list with other “offers”, but the trust is broken and the damage is done. It’s a matter of time until you realize you are in trouble.

No more repeat sales. Zero word-of-mouth referrals. No affiliates.

Nada. Zip. Nothing.

I know what I speak of. While I pride myself on putting out quality products, I’ve also been guilty of rushing a product and not creating the best program I could. And it ALWAYS comes back to bite me in the rear. Believe me, I ain’t no saint and wish I could go back in time and shelved some programs.

JUST BE… GREAT

Here’s my advice. Just put out the best product you possibly can.

My friend, Ramit Sethi (he likes when I call him NY Times Best-Selling Author Ramit Sethi), has told me he’s spent SIX FIGURES just on creating a product. And sometimes it takes him up to 18 months (or longer) to put it all together. Yes, I think it’s on one of the extreme curve and I’ve told him so, but I can’t argue with his results. Incredible products and virtually zero refunds.

Don’t “hold back” content with fear you are giving them too much good stuff and won’t be able to sell them other stuff in the future. That’s B.S!

If people like what you sell, they WILL trust you and purchase more products, programs and services.

I have customers who have been purchasing my products for over 12 years – and they are already super-successful. I never hold back on my programs, I come out with both guns blazing.

Here’s a fun little checklist with a few strategies for delivering a GREAT product:

Make your training truly STEP-BY-STEP

Is it really worth 10X what you are charging? If not, do what you can to get there.

Invest in quality graphic design

Create multiple formats (online videos, mp3, pdf files)

Add more learning tools (mindmaps, checklists, etc.)

Transcriptions for the people who love to read

Make is EASY to consume (online membership should have simple navigation)

If you create software, can they use is WITHOUT documentation? The more simple, the better.